Qatar Petroleum (QP) on behalf of the Government of the State of Qatar has signed a new Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) with Shell and PetroChina Company Limited (PetroChina) for Qatar Block D.
The agreement was signed in Doha by His Excellency Abdulla bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry, Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell plc, and Mr. Zhao Dong, Chief Financial Officer of PetroChina International Investment Company Limited.
Under the agreement, the partners will jointly explore for natural gas in Block D. Block D covers an area of 8,089 square kilometres onshore and offshore Qatar and is located close to Ras Laffan.
The Block D concession is for pre-Khuff geological intervals. The overlying Khuff horizon contains the super-giant North Field. Part of the Block D concession extends beneath the North Field.
The total term of this agreement is 30 years and starts with a five year First Exploration Period. During the exploration period, Shell and PetroChina will implement a work programme including exploration technical studies, 2D and 3D seismic acquisition, processing, re-processing and interpretation, and drilling a number of exploration wells to the pre-Khuff formation.
Shell, as operator, will hold a 75 per cent equity share with PetroChina holding a 25 per cent share.
In a success case, Shell and PetroChina will produce the natural gas under Qatar Petroleum’s supervision. Under the agreement QP will be the off-taker of any potential gas produced.